I just discovered a problem with my rear wheel (RS80-C24) which caused a flat yesterday. The flat was caused by the rim tape giving way over one of the spoke holes which allowed the tube to balloon into the hole.

Upon examination, there is small ridge at the edge of the hole, I can't quite see whether it's just the bunched up rim tape or something in the aluminium of the rim - I think it's just the rim tape though.

Then looking at the outside of the wheel there's a small gash in the carbon reinforcing close to the same spoke.

A couple of weeks ago I had a blowout in this wheel at speed when I hit something on the road - a bit of glass or metal or something, never found it. The gash was in the side of the tyre, not sure if it was at this spot but it makes sense. I noticed that there is some paint scraped off the frame underneath the brake consistent with something flying around with the wheel. Maybe this is a result of the same incident.

The scratch doesn't seem to go deep and the wheel is true. This spoke does seem to have a little less tension when plucked. I wonder whether the gash and the hole in the tape are linked?

Advice is welcome, should I be worried? My inclination is to put a dab of epoxy on the gash and replace the rim tape, assuming that the bump isn't in the aluminium.

Peel off the rim tape and chuck it, then inspect the other side of that gash. If the aluminium is not pierced then the rim should be OK.

Then, depending on the amount of damage you might be able to repair it with a bit of metal putty on the aluminium and epoxy on the carbon. There's plenty of holes in the aluminium already and another one won't kill it.

So we get the leaders we deserve and we elect, we get the companies and the products that we ask for, right? And we have to ask for different things. – Paul Gildingbut really, that's rubbish. We get none of it because the choices are illusory.

Thanks drubie, I peeked under the rim tape to find that the bump is in the aluminium, just a small raised dimple on one side of the hole. I can't really see how this was made unless somehow the spoke was pushed towards the tyre somehow and hit the rim. Either that or something went through the carbon into the aluminium - that sounds a bit farfetched.

I put a plastic 'patch' over the spoke hole and slipped in a new tube, we'll see how it goes. I can't see that there's structural damage even if somehow the hole is right through the rim.

Just thought I'd update this having fixed the problem. I took off the rim tape to find a small raised bump in the inner rim near the spoke hole, this was very easy to push back down, the aluminium seems to be pretty soft at this point which perhaps explains how the bump was created.

There was no sign of a hole or serious damage in the carbon - it was just a scratch which I sanded down and sealed with clear nail polish.

As I said, I had a blowout due to something slashing the side of the tyre, it's possible that whatever this was somehow got caught in the spoke hole and pulled the aluminium or the spoke was somehow pushed from the inside.

I replaced the rim tape and everything's gone together again ok, so no long term problem I hope.

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